Through Glass
by Rokstar9000
Summary: I've reworked this story, and hope its quality has improved. When Midna leaves, Link goes into a downward spiral. Will he push away all his friends, give up his way of life, and even then lose the one thing he wants the most? And what is going on on the other side? What will he find when he crosses over. Rated T for Lang.


_**AN:**_ Well, this is actually not the first story I ever wrote on this subject, finally but I'm having problems finishing the other. Thanks to Dan for making this possible years ago. It was my debut story, basically. I've worked to rewrite this story and make it at least on par with all my others. I hope you enjoy it.

This is a chaptered songfic. I have no idea if that's been done, but if it hasn't; now it has.

I was left crouched on the ground after the battle with Ganon. That fight had scarred me in a way. I had nearly died fighting him, and… I could barely move after the final blow.

Even worse, though, was the sight of Midna leaving the Light Realm. The memory of it, only a few moments after, chilled me. I felt completely numb… in a way, it felt good. In another way, it was the most painful sensation that my body had ever felt.

I was down, emotionally as well as physically, and really couldn't pretend I wasn't. People would have been able to tell instantly.

Through my miserable mental haze, I saw something. It was a piece of the mirror.

I held it in the palm of my hand, watching the dazzling sunlight dance across the crystal surface. I clenched my fist. The shard cut into my palm, but the physical pain was nothing like the emotion I felt now. It was so beautiful, yet… so painful to look at.

With a lump in my throat, I opened my hand again, and looked at the shard. A tear fell. A tear. That was all that had taken Midna away. I closed my eyes, letting the tears slowly fall.

'_She's really gone… after everything we've been through… she's…'_

As I kept repeating this thought to myself, the shard floated out of my hand to the mirror frame with the others. I blinked, staring unthinkingly at the flying glass. As I watched, all the shards seemed to glow gold, almost… melting together into a whole again.

Slowly, unbelievably, the shards had reformed and repaired the mirror.  
I walked over to it in wonder, hoping beyond hope that maybe, just maybe, a miracle had taken place. I laid my palm on the smooth, warm glass, then waited for a moment. When I didn't get pulled through to the other side, I realized this was just a window.

I clenched my fists, stretching the skin of my knuckles until they were bone white. This was just a window to torment me with… with what could have been. A simple vision of what I had lost. I fell to my knees, stunned once again, just like when Midna had left for the first time. This was almost worse.

"DAMMIT!" I shouted, punching the ground with one fist and speaking for the first time in years.

The impact caused something to bounce up off the ground. Mindlessly, I kicked it, then, realizing what it was, ran after it and grabbed it. I had gone through all this trouble to get the four Shadows, only to have them end up in pieces.

I felt like I was sinking. If she hadn't left, maybe things could have turned out differently. I couldn't believe this. The Shadow seemed to warm and glow in my hand, and the other three floated to fuse again with the first piece. I saw the familiar helmet. Something, I don't know what, urged me to put it on. Don't ask me why; it was just a feeling.

When I did, I gasped. Looking through the piece that I had expected would cover my left eye, I saw things far away that looked like they were close. I could even see through the ruined walls around me. '_Why didn't she ever use this to help me out?_' I wondered.

"Link, what are you doing?" Zelda asked. I turned around and she gasped.  
"Why...? How...?" I shook my head slowly. I barely even knew myself.

"The shadows want to stay together it seems."  
'_Too bad people aren't like that_' I thought, then, '_Maybe I could use this to my advantage!_'

I walked over to the window, and laid my left hand on it again. The Triforce glowed for a moment, then turned a black I had never seen before. It seemed that darkness actually swirled around my hand, and went through the glass. For a moment, nothing changed, and I felt tears well in my eyes again.

Finally, as I was about to give up, an image appeared. It was Midna. She looked up, then jumped and held her hand over her heart. I heard her voice.  
"Link? How? And what are you doing wearing the Shadows?" I told her about the mirror and the helmet, and she nodded. She seemed to have expected all of this.

Zelda left, shaking her head, when I finished. I could tell almost instantly that she didn't approve of what I was doing, but I could honestly care less.

"Now, Midna, I have one last thing to say. I don't want to lose you forever. If we can't live in the same world, please, tell me, at least, that we can talk through the mirror." I told her.

"Link," she began, "I only broke the mirror to avoid the repetition of those events. Nobody can walk through this. I'll always be here to talk." As she said that, she smiled, her eyes meeting mine. A serious glint appeared in them that I hadn't seen before.  
"I'll be here until the day I die." she promised.

/_\

I was happy with my life at first, being able to talk to Midna, even though we could never truly be near one another. I would go to the mirror every week to talk to her. To me, even if I was missing something, it didn't matter.

That being said, I still sank down low. In the city, I took up drinking at The Hangout, and I started hiring myself out as a fighter, wishing for the good times to come back. With the helmet's sight aid, as well as its other magic, I never even came close to losing a fight. I had never figured out the flight thing, but I could jump higher than normal, which was all I needed.

Eventually, I lost the thrill I used to find in the fight. Then the sadness began to return. I began to drink more, and actually got into more severe street fights. Without Midna, I wasn't as mellow as I had been. Many of the girls in my world tried to catch my attention, but it never worked. I ignored them, because I only wanted what I couldn't have, and that wasn't going to change any time soon. I never took the Shadow off, always wanting to keep a part of Midna close to me. All that I could do was hope that I could find a way back to her.

A man wearing a hooded robe, sat down beside me at the bar in The Hangout, and dropped a few silver rupees on it.

"I need you to do something for me." he said. "There's a huge army coming toward Hyrule. I need people who can fight. I've heard glowing references to you from everyone you've worked for."

I took a drink from the bottle in front of me. _'A huge army? More like a group of untrained recruits, I bet.'_ I grinned,

"Leave it to me." I said, then stood up, dropped some money on the bar for the drink, and went towards the door.

"It would be faster if you let me take care of things." the mysterious hooded man said. He dramatically waved his hand, and almost instantly, our surroundings changed. Now instead of buildings there were trees. We were in a forest. "These are the edges of Hyrule." he said. "This is the place the army has to come through to get to the rest of the country."

"So when does the army attack?" I asked.

"Tomorrow." he said. "Now, friend-"

I cut him off. "Don't call me friend. I'm here to make money, not friends." I said coldly. The man chuckled. I recognized that laugh, and spun on the spot, tearing my sword from its sheathe.

"Zant!" I growled,

"No!" he pleaded, his voice pitiful. "I knew you would be angry if I appeared suddenly."

"You're one of the two people who forced Midna and me apart, you fucking bastard!" I spat. "You don't deserve to live!" At this point, I was breathing in incredible gasps. He looked at me in pity, almost. He gave a nonverbal apology.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MADE ME THIS!" I screamed at him, my self-restraint wearing down very quickly. "IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

He looked at me again, this time in fear.

"I… I can't tell you how sorry I am…" he began, but I was beyond consoling at this point.

"Thanks to you we're separated and miserable. I hope you die a horrible, slow, painful death, just like your "god" did!" I said coldly, regaining my self-control.

"If I do, I will die the same way Midna did."

"Midna...? Dead?" I saw the darkness on all sides, threatening to engulf me. I fell to my knees.

"No! No! No! No! No! NO!" Then I screamed. It was a horrible pain-filled lament, loud, rough, and denying. I jumped back to my feet. This was no time for weakness.

_'Midna. I will find your killer. And when I do I will make them feel the deepest pain for every minute of your life that they took.'_ I swore. _'Then what?'_ a part of me asked. I didn't know. All I knew was that right now I had a job to do. I had to focus.

I woke up early that morning, sharpened my sword, and got ready for the fight of my life.

"This is what you hired yourself out to do." I told myself. "Man up."

For some reason I had a bad feeling about this fight. A feeling that something bad would happen. I saw the army running my way, and gauged it at about a thousand men. Nothing serious for me. I was a one-man army. I drew my sword and charged, slashing through five men in the first swing.

"Only nine hundred ninety five more to go." I muttered sarcastically. I slashed again, then stabbed. I was destroying the army with single sweeps of my blade. There was no mercy for these bastards. The sooner they were dead, the sooner I could avenge Midna.

Finally, only one was left. The commander, obviously. I charged and slashed with extreme speed and ferocity. The commander brought her sword up with matching speed.

_'Wait… her?'_ I thought. I saw a flash of red through the eyeholes of her helmet. _'Is it really her?'_ I asked myself, doubting. _'Only one way to find out...'_

I launched myself at her and, holding her blade away with one hand, ripped off her helmet. At that point, I had the shock of my life.

It was Midna, standing in the middle of the field of dead bodies. She swung at me again, then I stopped her sword with mine. I twisted my hand and knocked her blade away. She quickly backed up. I hissed quietly as I covered the cut that I had gotten from that maneuver. With the other hand, I reached up and removed the front piece of my own helmet.

"Midna! Stop! It's me!" I said.

"Link?" she said in surprise. Then I dropped my sword and ran to throw my arms around her.

"Link! How could I have not guessed?" she asked.

"How touching." Zant's voice sneered from behind me. I felt a blade touch my back. "Why don't you try to turn around in time, great HERO" he taunted. Midna suddenly dissolved, along with the army.

"What the fuck?" I yelled.

"A mere illusion. It was simple to catch you off guard." he continued.

"I will hunt you down!" I screamed, all semblance of control gone. I couldn't keep that threat at this moment, but…

"Now that I know the weak link, if you'll pardon the pun, in your chain, I can exploit it." I felt a sharp pain across my back, then everything turned black.

I groaned in pain as I woke up and found the wound healed. I didn't question how at this moment, but instead warped back to the city.

_'Next time I see Zant he is fucked.'_ I thought as I walked back to The Hangout.

Looking back on everything that'd been happening lately while I was there, I finally realized I NEEDED to get to her. The illusion had opened my eyes, ironically. It had told me what my heart really wanted. Somehow, someway, I had to get to Midna. If she were really dead, I would have known.

I knew couldn't keep living like this, anyway, and I refused to die, because that would hurt her if she ever found out.

_'Would it?'_a small, doubting part of me asked. _'She did leave once.' __I pushed the thought away as quickly as I could._

_'I'm going insane.'_ I thought. I did my best to lock the doubting voice in the back of my mind where I wouldn't have to listen to it. I figured that, in order to use the mirror again, I would have to learn how to control the power of the Fused Shadows even more than I already could. Only one person could teach me that. However, she wouldn't be willing. I sighed. I would have to ask Zelda for help. Goddesses knew what she would want in exchange. Maybe another hunt was coming up. Like I said, goddesses only knew. All I knew was that I would do anything. Anything at all.

_**AN:**_Ok, the illusion needs explaining I think. It was meant to show Link's weakness so that Zant could get to him. He's not very quick, though.

I walked to the castle, since warping would scare the shit out of Zelda. Not that I would mind, but that's not the best way to get something you want. The guards stopped me at the castle gates with lowered spears.

"Who are you and what business do you have in the castle?" one asked, never letting his spear point down.

"You mean you don't recognize me?" I said, getting as close to laughing as I could. I swept my hood back and grinned. All my time in armor and under the hood may have drained what little color I had, but I was still easily recognizable.

"Oh. I'm sorry great hero, sir!" I quickly waved the guard's apology off.

"Whatever. Just let me in."

"Immediately, sir."

"And stop calling me sir. I'm not a lord, or a king, or anything. Don't treat me like one."

"Yes, s- I mean, yes, Link." The guard said, stepping aside with his weapons lowered.

I climbed quickly to the top of the stairs. I knocked on the door, and Zelda sighed.

"Who is it?" she said wearily. I frowned. Was this really the ONLY way I could learn how to use the magic? I didn't WANT to talk to her. Who knew what she'd want in return for teaching me?

"It's me." I said finally, after a long pause.

"Link?" she said in surprise, then opened the door. She smiled as she saw me. I raged on the inside.

'_Don't look at me like that… I don't want to have anything to do with you'_ I thought angrily. I forced a smile on the outside, though.

"Come in! It's been so long!" she said, holding the door open.

I walked in and sat down in a chair.

"So why did you come here now?" she asked, not really angrily, just curious.

"I really want to learn how to control the power of the Fused Shadows." I said, getting straight to the point. There was no future in making conversation before I said what I wanted.

Zelda hesitated for a moment. "Link, tell me one thing, then. Why do you want to learn to use the Shadows?" she asked. I knew couldn't lie to her, since she had the Triforce of Wisdom. She'd know the moment the words left my mouth that I was hiding something.

"I want to go to the Twilight Realm!" I confessed. "Zelda, you don't understand. I can't keep living the way I have been! It's been killing me slowly since she left!"

"You haven't even tried to get over it! All you've done is sit around and pout!" she accused.

"I have tried, I swear! I can't stop thinking about her for one second though. I've tried!" I argued. This wasn't going how I had expected it to. I knew she'd be difficult, but not so aggressive.

She sat silently, glaring at nothing in particular, as if she hated the very air around her. Finally, she gave a resigned sigh.

"Link, she isn't healthy for you." As I began to protest, she held up a hand. "I can see that it's too late for you." she continued, "I'll teach you, in hopes that you can find happiness. That's all. I don't approve, though… and you'll owe me."

"That's all I can ask for." I answered. _'And all I want from you. I'd rather not be in your debt, but that's unavoidable.'_ I thought angrily. I had never asked for her opinion!

_**AN:**_I honestly think this is much better now that both parts of the chapter are in one place. I didn't make each part longer and split it into separate chapters, like one of my reviewers wanted, but I did make it a bit more in-depth, and I cleaned up a lot of the grammar and spellings.


End file.
